George Will's Business

This is absolutely none of our business:

Rumors about the self-declared 'thoroughly married' George Will and Lally Weymouth, globetrotting, rigidly Marxist reporter, daughter os Post owner Kartherine Graham and former main squeeze of Alexander Cockburn, were initially dismissed by Washington wags as Too Good to be True, but then Will left his wife and children to buy a $990,000 house a few blocks away from his family in Chevy Chase, only to see, according to the Washingtonian magazine, his office furniture left on his front lawn with a note reading 'Take it somewhere else, Buster'. The cocktail party circuit exploded. Will and Weymouth both denied that the relationship had been romantic and threatened to sue the Washingtonian. The Washingtonian offered to write a correction if it would be allowed to investigate the matter and Interview Will's friends. The matter was dropped there....

Since breaking off with Weymouth, Will apparently found love again with former White House communications worker Mari Maseng, thirteen years his junior. The couple was married in Will's home on October 12, 1991."

From Eric Alterman's Sound and Fury.

Tom Tomorrow

The Bearded Liberal gets a visit from the Patriotism Police.

Whores

A lovely little article about payola in the media business.


It should be absolutely incomprehensible that George Will has a job. On this, Will comments:

My business is my business. Got it.

ha ha ha. Let's make this annoy George Will week...

But, for the record, if anyone wants to pay me gobs of money to sit on Boards and do little or nothing I'd be more than happy to write a nice blurb for the cover of your next book.

Political Hate Speech

I still don't know what it is, but it appears Tom DeLay is engaging in it.

Big Media Matt has a nice little theory about why Timmy Russert is soft on DeLay. But, Matt's just trying to come up with a justification for Russert's performance. Russert is a Republican shill - always has been, and presumably always will be.

Limbaugh v. Limbaugh

Limbaugh then:

There is no right to privacy specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

Now:

Limbaugh's attorneys filed a court action asking a judge to review the propriety of the seizure of the medical records, which are under seal and haven't been reviewed by prosecutors. They asked for a hearing in the next three days to assert Limbaugh's right to privacy and prevent prosecutors from gaining access to them.

Yes I know there could be statutory privacy issues that aren't necessarily explicitly constitutional.

Stupid White Women

Peggy Noonan really is the epitome:

MATTHEWS: No, no. The particular question here is, why do the majority of the people still believe that Saddam Hussein attacked us 9/11 and, therefore, believe the world is safer because he is gone?

NOONAN: Chris, take a look at what that poll says. It doesn‘t say they are certain Saddam Hussein did 9/11. They think Osama...

MATTHEWS: No, they say he personally was involved.

NOONAN: They think Osama bin Laden did 9/11. They also think the world is a complicated place. And they think that Saddam...

MATTHEWS: No, no, Peggy, you are not listening. You are not listening.

NOONAN: I am listening.

MATTHEWS: No.

NOONAN: They think that Saddam Hussein was helpful to international bad guys and the world‘s bad guys.

MATTHEWS: No. They say he was personally involved in blowing up the World Trade Center, personally involved. Do you believe he was personally involved?

NOONAN: Do I think he did it?

MATTHEWS: Yes. No, was personally involved in it.

NOONAN: Do I think he was on the plane? Do I think he pulled the levers that Osama bin Laden did?

MATTHEWS: No, do you believe he was personally...

NOONAN: No.

Do I suspect that he was helpful to our enemies and helpful to terrorism, looking to hurt us? Yes.

MATTHEWS: But do you think he was personally involved in blowing up the World Trade Center, Saddam Hussein? That is the critical question here, because it involves whether we‘re safe or not.

(CROSSTALK)

NOONAN: Chris...

MATTHEWS: Do you believe he was personally involved?

NOONAN: Chris, I don‘t think it can be asked as a crystal question.

First of all, I think a lot will come out and be revealed in time and a lot will be studied that we already know. It seems to me that Saddam Hussein was a guy who was extremely helpful to our enemies, our foes, our opponents, terrorism, etcetera. He was friends with those guys. We will see. There was a report just last week.

MATTHEWS: Why are you having a hard time with a question of fact here? Lawrence made a very clear statement. He said there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. Is Lawrence correct?

NOONAN: Lawrence made a clear statement that he doesn‘t believe that Saddam Hussein had any part, correct?

MATTHEWS: What do you believe?

NOONAN: In 9/11?

O‘DONNELL: No, no, Peggy. I didn‘t say that.

(CROSSTALK)

NOONAN: All right. What did you say, Lawrence?

O‘DONNELL: I said—and this is quite simple.

NOONAN: Oh.

O‘DONNELL: There is absolutely no evidence of it. I do not have a religious belief one way or the other. I know, scientifically, evidentiary, there is no evidence for it.

MATTHEWS: Do you challenge that, Peggy? Do you have any evidence?

NOONAN: I‘m sure there is evidence that he has been helpful to bad guys who have tried to hurt us and who in fact have hurt us in the past.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Peggy, you can‘t handle this question, because it gets to the heart of why we went to war. You can‘t handle the truth.

NOONAN: We will look and see what wires connected him with the other people.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: We will be right back to talk about the gender gap.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: We will be right back to talk to Peggy Noonan about other things. I‘m out of time for this moment.

More from Peggy and Lawrence when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTHEWS: We are back with more “Political Buzz” with Peggy Noonan, Lawrence O‘Donnell and Alexandra Starr.

Peggy, I have to go back to you one more time.

If the American people believed that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, would they be as much for the war and as much to believe right now that we are safer because of we‘ve captured him, have captured him, if they thought he had nothing to do with 9/11?

NOONAN: Yes, that is too complicated.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: No, no. It is not complicated at all.

NOONAN: I‘m sorry. It is.

MATTHEWS: And no else on this panel think it‘s complicated.

NOONAN: I‘ll bet. I‘ll bet.

MATTHEWS: Why it is too complicated to know the truth? I don‘t know why it‘s complicated to face the facts here.

NOONAN: Chris, give it to me. Give it to me.

(CROSSTALK)

NOONAN: I don‘t think that‘s fair. That is ad hominem.

MATTHEWS: No, it‘s simple. No.

NOONAN: Yes, it is.

MATTHEWS: If the American people knew the truth that there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, would they be as supportive of this war and as assured that we‘re safer for having captured Saddam Hussein?

NOONAN: You and I have talked about this many times in the past.

MATTHEWS: I‘m just asking a question.

NOONAN: I‘m trying to answer it.

I think, after September 11, the American people came to some hard conclusions about those who are real trouble in the world. And I think Saddam Hussein was on the list of those who are moving against American interests and the interests of peace. He had been an international troublemaker for a very long time. I think they were correct to see him as that. I saw him as that.

MATTHEWS: What act of war...

NOONAN: I‘m glad...

MATTHEWS: What act of war did Saddam Hussein ever take against the United States, what act of war against us?

NOONAN: Oh, Christopher.

MATTHEWS: Just name one. Help me. One.

It goes on...

Stupid White Men

Lou Dobbs really is the epitome:

DOBBS: Let me start first, 96 percent of us, according to most polls, celebrate Christmas. Why in the world do we care about a program in a public school in which children are singing "White Christmas," "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."

NADINE STROSSEN, PRESIDENT, ACLU: That's actually quite fine, Lou. Under the United States constitution, religious liberty means that government has no business either preferring religion or disfavoring religion.

And that means government certainly may not suppress the 96 percent of Americans who are celebrating Christmas in their own churches or in their own homes. In the public schools, if there's no religious component and we're just talking about, you know, seasonal songs as part of a seasonal celebration that would extend to other holidays as well, that's also absolutely fine.

...

DOBBS: The point is that a number of schools have been approached by the ACLU, told they cannot have Nativity scenes on their lawns.

STROSSEN: Well, that would absolutely if it were a Nativity scene on public property, namely, a public school with impressionable school children, with no other attendant displays, that's clearly unconstitutional according to a decision written by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, hardly a flaming radical appointed by Ronald Reagan.

And she said the problem with this kind of unattended Christian display in a public school or indeed in a public square is that it sends a message to certain children that they are outsiders, that they are not part of our community.

DOBBS: What about Santa Claus in the classroom?

STROSSEN: Last time I knew Santa Claus did not have any Christian connotations and is part of what the Supreme Court calls...

DOBBS: St. Nicholas? St. Nicholas? My gosh, I...

STROSSEN: Lou, let me tell you, let me tell you, the Supreme Court's test, concocted by Sandra Day O'Connor, a Ronald Reagan appointee, I think, is a very reasonable and fair one. We certainly support it. Let me tell you, would a reasonable observer looking at this, think that it is an endorsement of religion? I don't think a reasonable observer looking at Santa Claus would say that's an endorsement of religion. I do think looking at a Nativity scene, they'd say it is and it's unconstitutional.

...
...
DOBBS: This is a great country. I think we all agree about that. What I'm having trouble with and a few other folks are, and this comes not from a religious belief, but children singing Christmas carols, surely there is a more important...

STROSSEN: Have you heard me object to that? I have not objected to that nor have our clients. If you're talking about a nativity scene that's very different from singing "Jingle Bells" or Christmas carols.

SEARS: In Colorado you wrote a demand letter to one of our clients.

STROSSEN: I read that letter. It was not complaining about Christmas carols.

(CROSSTALK)

SEARS: So you encourage schools to have any Christmas Carol they want to sing in any of their school programs?
STROSSEN: As part of a neutral program.

DOBBS: Oh, for crying out loud.

STROSSEN: As recognizing the holiday season. I'm quoting the Supreme Court's decision.

DOBBS: I don't care what you're quoting.

STROSSEN: We have Kwanza.

DOBBS: Does common sense fit in here anywhere?

STROSSEN: Common sense, I think, is reflected in the notion that religion is not going to flourish if the government can intervene to promote some religions and to discourage other religion.

DOBBS: What are you doing, you have the courts intervening in communities all over the country. That's government.

STROSSEN: In order to preserve the neutrality. That religion precisely because it's so special, belongs in the realm of the individual, the family, the church, other places of worship. It does not belong mixed up with government.

DOBBS: Nadine -- I've got producers screaming at me, Alan. You have been poorly treated on this broadcast. I have not been able, I apologize. I'm going to ask you both to come back.
...

DOBBS: Well, we're going to sing them here no matter what. We'll take a lawsuit.

That brings us to the subject of our poll tonight, "Do you believe that Christmas and Santa are part of the American culture and, therefore, should be preserved in our schools and public places? Yes or no." Cast your vote at cnn.com/lou. We'll have the results for you later

Lou just doesn't hear anything which doesn't fit his worldview. Christians are persecuted. The ACLU doesn't want your kids singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. blahblahblah

AFA Poll

Don't forget to take it.

... it's interesting. This poll has really been making the rounds. Friends who are fairly non-political and don't know I do this blog have sent it to my "real life" email. Funny.

Moral Clarity

Our partner in the coalition of the willing.

You Go Girl!

Wes Clark says what needs to be said.

Clark would easily kick the crap out of the entire 1st Chickenblogger Division.

Toxica Popa

When Priests Attack!

Nearly two dozen Chicago area priests in an open letter have denounced the Vatican's anti-gay rhetoric, calling it "vile and toxic".

Saying they can no longer remain silent, the priests from parishes in both the city of Chicago and the suburbs the priests said the Church is being "divisive and exclusionary" and "increasingly violent and abusive."

It is the first mass revolt in the Catholic Church by clergy over the issues of gay priests and same-sex marriage.

"As priests and pastors we are speaking out to make clear that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are all members of God's family, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus and deserving of the same dignity and respect owed any human being," the letter stated.

I'm not a Catholic, but as an outsider I find it puzzling that their anti-gay rhetoric is stronger than their anti-adultery and anti-divorce rhetoric. There's much more support for the latter two in scripture.

More broadly, I don't get why sex sins seem to have been elevated above all others.

Newscrap

Dwight Meredith lets us know how full of shit Newsweek is.

Must read.

Newsflash

Clinton administration warned about stuff which wasn't true.

In related news, Clinton administration accused of doing things they didn't do.

Unelectable

Hey, that didn't take long.

That Liberal Media

Kit Seelye is a truly horrible reporter. She should have been fired long ago for many many atrocious pieces. En banc takes a look at her "gay marriage poll" report and finds it totally slanted.

The biggest problem with Eric Alterman's "What Liberal Media?" book was that he, without doing much research, conceded the point that the media are more socially liberal than the population at large. In a broad sense this is probably correct, but it doesn't mean that the coverage of minority issues - particularly gay issues - reflects this bias at all. It's one thing to be "pro-gay" in some general clueless sense, and it's another to have any understanding of what the issues are. Combine this with the general tendency to bend over backwards to please Lou Sheldon, and media coverage of gay issues is absolutely atrocious.

The Howler has documented more Seelye atrocities.

There probably isn't much point, because as Jerry Doolittle notes the new Times ombudsman is just a bit of Grey Lady auto-eroticism, but if you're so inclined you can contact him at:

public@nytimes.com. Telephone messages: (212) 556-7652

NFL Copyright Warning

Maybe I heard this wrong, but I'm sitting here watching the Iggles and I swear the official copyright warning went something like "This game is copyrighted by the NFL..blahblahblah... permission must be obtained for any other use including descriptions of the game..."

wuh?

The Iggles are winning!

Sue me.

New Terror Alert System

...what are they thinking? Don't they know Bert is a collaborator?

The Sanctity of Civil Unions

Congratulations to Terrence McNally and Thomas Kerdahy.

Terrence McNally, the playwright, and Thomas Joseph Kirdahy, a public-interest lawyer, affirmed their partnership last evening at the Inn at Sawmill Farm in West Dover, Vt. Millicent B. Atkin, a justice of the peace for Dover, Vt., performed the civil union ceremony.

Mr. McNally, 65, won Tony awards for best play for "Love! Valour! Compassion!" (1995) and "Master Class" (1996) and for best book of a musical for his adaptations of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1993) and "Ragtime" (1998). Mr. McNally also wrote "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" (1987) and "Lips Together, Teeth Apart"(1991).

Mr. McNally's latest play, "The Stendhal Syndrome," is to open in February at Primary Stages in New York, with a cast led by Isabella Rossellini and Richard Thomas.

Mr. McNally graduated from Columbia. His parents, the late Dorothy K. McNally and Hubert A. McNally, lived in Corpus Christi, Tex., where his father owned Ace Sales, a beer distributor.

Mr. Kirdahy, 40, is a public advocate in Riverhead, N.Y., with Nassau-Suffolk Law Services, a nonprofit program that provides legal assistance in civil matters to low-income clients. He specializes in representing people with H.I.V. or AIDS. He graduated from New York University, from which he also received his law degree.

Oddly, this doesn't make me want to get a divorce. How could that be?

The God Card

Another thing that everyone knows is that Democrats are God-hating heathen pagan atheists. Much like gay rights issues, there's literally nothing they can do overcome that image. Divorced Ronald Reagan went to church about as often as I do but that didn't stop him from being portrayed as a God-fearing devout [insert your own denomination here] Christian. Playing the God Card in the primaries is just another way of shooting ourselves in the collective foot.

Look, even Holy Joe Lieberman got some shitty press about his religion - a lot of snarky talk about his use of a Sabbath Goy, vague insinuations that X or Y was somehow incompatible with his religion and therefore he wasn't *really* orthodox, or at least not a "good" Orthodox, etc...

Stop playing defense on these issues, and stop letting the other side write the script.

Is it possible that Democrats can overcome the perception that they're anti-religion? Perhaps in the long run. But, the fact is that the people who care most about this stuff aren't going to be happy until we have Ten Commandment monuments on every street corner. The media and the Republicans have successfully equated "religious" and "the religious Right," despite the liberal traditions of many many many churches. Embracing bumper sticker religion in the short run, and pissing off persecuted religious minorities like myself by condemning secularism, is just another way to try to out-Republican the Republicans and that can't be done.

... and, yes, as 56K points out the attacks on Dean specifically are a way of pointing out that his kids have been raised as Jews, and that therefore he can't be particularly religious.

... one more thing - the moment when I was most embarrassed to actually bother supporting the Democrats was when they all gathered on the steps of the Capitol and belted out the 1954 Knights of Columbus version of the Pledge of Allegiance, screeching "UNDER GOD" at the top of their lungs like they were cheering at a hockey game.

Why Does Tom Ridge Hate America?

Much like Howard Dean (and every 5 year old with a modest level of intelligence), he doesn't think that capturing Saddam has made us any safer from terrorists. CONDITION ORANGE!!!